Older Actors Grabbing Spotlight

Minutes into the second act of the comedy Aren`t We All?, the legendary Rex Harrison, 77, sighs and says, ``When you reach a certain age, all there is to do is to watch what other people do.``

On stage, the line draws bona fide laughs. But in real life, at least for Harrison and a legion of other older performers, the words are fiction.

From Broadway plays to top-rated television shows, the gray and the restless are moving, acting, starring -- and drawing rave reviews and standing ovations.

``Retire -- I`ve never seriously considered it,`` said Claudette Colbert, who at 82 co-starred with Harrison in a year-long run of Aren`t We All? that closed in Washington Jan. 5.

``I get a lot of mail from people my age -- and from people much younger, in their 60s -- saying I`m an inspiration to them,`` Colbert said. ``Seeing us on stage gives them a boost.``

In increasing numbers, a host of over-55 actors and actresses -- some many years over 55 -- are boosting plenty of vintage spirits, particularly on TV.

Angela Lansbury, 60, a veteran of four decades on stage and screen, plays a mystery writer and crime solver on Murder, She Wrote, a regular in the Nielsen Top 10. Christopher Hewett, 67, runs the household on Mr. Belvedere.

Film legends are the headliners on nighttime soaps: Jane Wyman stars on Falcon Crest and Charlton Heston and Barbara Stanwyck co-star on The Colbys. The latter is a spin-off of Dynasty, on which veterans John Forsythe and Joan Collins turn in passionate performances.

Four actresses over 50 -- Betty White, Rue McLanahan, Estelle Getty and Bea Arthur -- display vitality, wit and wisdom on The Golden Girls, and Edward Woodward, 55, outsmarts criminals half his age as the star of The Equalizer.

``The over-55 set is a trend on television,`` said Mark Locher, a spokesman for the Screen Actors Guild. He attributes the movement, in large part, to demographics and dollars.

America is growing older; people 55 and over may comprise up to one-fifth of the population by the year 2000. More importantly, TV advertisers are aware that older viewers have more discretionary money, or greater buying power, than ever.

``The consensus of opinion has long been that children control what is on TV because they make up the biggest part of the audience,`` said Kathi Banks, an NBC spokeswoman. ``Now the feeling is we`ve been missing the older audience.``

Wanting to make up for lost time, the networks have already started to expand the senior lineup. NBC recently premiered Blacke`s Magic, starring Hal Linden, 54, as a magician-detective with Harry Morgan, 70, as his father, an ex-carny.

The older set is doing far better on TV than on the big screen. First-run movies, which primarily draw a teen-age audience, are dominated by an ever- marching army of relatively young stars.

In the theater, where middle-aged fans have long been the great majority, casts are mixed but seem to be getting a few shades older.

``As far as older performers are concerned, things are better than they were a few years ago, but there have been no great upswing in numbers,`` said Dick Moore, a spokesman for the Actors Equity, a union for theater performers.

``Unlike TV or the movies, I don`t think the theater ever really suffered the problem of a lack of sensitivity to middle-aged and senior performers,`` he said.

``Heck,`` he said, ``Colbert and Harrison will always draw.``

Colbert, a native of Paris, and Harrison, a native of London, have had distinguished stage and screen careers on both sides of the Atlantic. Together, they made Aren`t We All?, a 1923 play by Frederick Lonsdale, a 1985 smash on Broadway. It also drew well in Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and Washington.

``I think it is a charming play, don`t you?``, Colbert said in an interview during the play`s Washington run. ``I was afraid that in some ways people might find it a bit too old-fashioned, but evidently not.``

One of Colbert`s favorite lines in the play comes when she walks on for the first time and is told, ``You look younger every day.``

Colbert laughed and said, ``I say to him, `I`m glad of that because it takes most of the day to become it.` ``

What`s her offstage secret to staying fit and trim and active?

``I just keep working and try to stay well. I think the genes have a lot to do with it. My mother lived to be 94. I`ve always thought she died because she was bored. I`m going to try not to be bored -- ever.``

Sitting in her room at the Watergate Hotel, overlooking the frigid Potomac River and fighting a cold, Colbert laughed again and recalled, ``I once told a reporter, `Actors never really retire, but they are occasionally out of work.`

``Actually, it`s true. Acting is one profession where, if you are well, they almost need you. There are always roles for older people.``